


Old Friends

by mercutiglo



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, lots of description
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 17:39:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16937736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercutiglo/pseuds/mercutiglo
Summary: Some Jupeter h/c





	Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MissjuliaMiriam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissjuliaMiriam/gifts).



It had been two weeks since Peter had left to take care of a case and it had been two weeks since Juno Steel had heard a word from the man. He knew that he had had to go off planet, something about a trade deal in the outer ring that needed in person help from an old friend of his, and normally that wouldn't necessarily worry Juno.   
  
Except Peter wasn't someone that had old friends, and neither Peter nor Juno were people who spoke fondly of the past almost ever.   
  
It wasn't necessarily that Juno thought Peter was cheating on him, their relationship was more or less exclusive but they weren't very strict about that fact. Juno was worried that Peter was leaving out important details, details that could mean the difference between Peter coming back alive, hurt, or in a body bag. He had tried numerous times to contact Peter, especially when the news reports started to state more and more about the various uprisings that were happening on different planets in the outer ring, any one of which could be the one that Peter was on at any given time. Peter had said he should only be gone for a week, so when it started to look more like two, Rita was barely able to talk him out of hopping on the next flight to the outer rim to go and find Peter himself.   
  
Once it reached two and a half, Juno was sitting on the couch in his apartment, drinking away his worries to keep himself from doing anything too reckless. He was watching whatever was on his tv, some drama that Rita probably watched and would talk his ear off about if she knew he was watching it, or if she thought he was even paying any attention to it. He was scrolling through something on his comms when he heard what sounded like a knock at the door. He looked up towards the tv, seeing if the noise had just been coming from there, but they were outside in a park. He heard the knock again, a little stronger. This time Juno realized it was actually a real life knock, on his own front door. He wasn't entirely sure who it was that'd be knocking this late at night. Rita would have sent him a message or would have called him at least a dozen times before coming over, and had a key to his place anyways. Mick wouldn't be able to remember which place was actually Juno's, and therefore also would've had to have called him at least twice by this point. Any of his neighbors probably wouldn't try and talk to him, considering he wasn't even entirely convinced he had neighbors in the first place, except for the occasional quiet voice that he could hear through the walls (or at least, he hoped were coming from the other side of the wall instead of from the inside of his head.) He figured it could be Peter at the door but.... Peter didn't really need a key to get in, despite how many times Juno had voiced that he liked when his windows were locked and not picked in the middle of broad daylight when anyone who had it out for him could see the exact way to get into Juno's apartment. "Who is it?" he yelled, a little slurred. A client had given Peter a high-end bottle of gin as part of his reward for solving a case once, and while gin wasn't necessarily Juno's drink of choice, it was better than the nothingness that was bouncing around in his head and anything tasted partway decent after about two thirds of the bottle, no matter what your taste was. There was no answer, just another knock at the door, a little more spaced out, a little more desperate. Juno pulled himself up from the couch and over to the door. When he got all of the various locks undone he opened the door just enough to stick his head through so that he could tell whatever stranger they had the wrong room when he stopped before he could get a single word out.    
  
Peter Nureyev stood on the other side of the door and while he didn't appear to be physically hurt, he looked as though there was something that had happened to him while he was out on the Outer Rim that had scarred him emotionally. He looked kind of greasy as well, as though he hadn't really showered since he had left Mars and like he had spent a few days rolling in the dirt on whatever planet he was on. He looked up when the door opened, and he looked like he was trying to smile but didn't possess the physical ability to do so. "I'm sorry, Juno" was all he could say before the tears started to fall and Juno flung the door open wider, pulling Peter into his arms as the tears started to pour. Whatever Peter had seen, it was clear that it was many many times worse than whatever Juno had been seeing on the tv, and whatever horrors he had been imagining Peter in were probably true and then probably even worse still. Juno pulled Peter tight, rubbing circles into his back, trying his best to comfort him but knowing that there was going to be a long period of time before Peter likely felt comfortable talking about whatever had been happening.    
  
Juno brought Peter inside and pulled back from the hug, still holding him upright by his shoulders, checking him over for injuries. "Are you hurt?" he asked, bringing his hands down from his shoulders, down his arms to his hands. There were a number of small scrapes all over his hands, nicks in the skin that Juno would've known about had they been there before. He squeezed Peter's hands. Peter didn't answer his question, just looked down, remaining silent. Juno moved his hands to Peter's sides, clearly causing him to wince but when Juno tried to ask him about it, he continued to say nothing. "Can I take a look?" he asked, making sure to be very careful with the fragile man in front of him. He nodded, yes, he could take a look. Juno pulled the hem of Peter's shirt out of where it was tucked into his pants, slowly and gently so as not to hurt Peter any more than he already was. When he pulled the shirt up, Juno let out a small gasp. Galaxies of purple bruises were spread out across his ribs and stomach, most of them looking as though they were on the path towards healing, but some of them looking as though they were likely only a few days old, not yet reaching the height of their colors. Juno let the shirt fall back down, bringing his hands up to Peter's shoulders. Juno leaned in for a soft kiss against Peter's lips, which he reciprocated, showing Juno that he was still there at least a little bit. Juno pulled back and lightly put his hand around Peter's back. "Let's get you a shower...."   
  
\----   
  
By the time Peter finally turned the water off in the shower, Juno had been considering going in there to make sure he was still alive and awake for at least five minutes, but he hadn't because he realized that the amount of pain in Peter's eyes reflected some of the true monstrosities that come with work in the Outer Rim. It wasn't as though Peter had never seen terrible things as the price of capitalism before, it was just the worst case of it. Juno had grabbed some of Peter's clothes that he had left there from the bedroom and put them on the counter in the bathroom before Peter had started showering, telling Peter that when he was done he could get dressed and come out into the living room, Juno would work on getting some food made for him while he showered.    
  
He didn't figure Peter would want anything super fancy, so he kept it very simple - a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. When Peter came out of the bathroom, he was wearing the shorts that Juno had set in the bathroom for him, which he didn't realize were going to reveal some of the more gruesome injuries he had sustained - large areas of skin that seemed to have been dragged across some sort of pavement causing road rash, some deeper cuts into the backs of his calves and his thighs, and more black and purple galaxies that this time spread across and around his knees. His face looked less like he had been possessed by a ghost, a little more life showing through, but overall there was still a certain emptiness behind his eyes that Juno was unaccustomed to. Juno slid the soup and grilled cheese across the counter towards Peter, turning around to grab a glass out of the cupboards and walking over to where he had been situated on the couch. He picked up the bottle of gin off the floor and walked back over to the glass, pouring some of it into the glass and pushing that across the counter towards Peter as well. When Peter was done with the sandwich and soup, he pounded back the drink like it was water. Peter was good at handling his alcohol, but usually he would at least flinch when drinking straight gin like that. Juno poured him another glass and walked around the counter. "Come on," he said quietly, lightly tugging on Peter's arm to pull him towards the couch.    
  
Juno sat down on the couch and gestured for Peter to sit down with him. Juno wasn't usually much of a cuddler, and especially was more of a little spoon than Peter is, but Peter accepted the invitation. Juno made sure he wasn't squeezing too hard, trying not to hurt Peter, but tried to settle his arms in a way that they made Peter feel safe and cared for. It was clear to Juno that Peter was stiff, not really wanting to relax into Juno's embrace, but eventually Juno reached a hand up and lightly pushed Peter's head back so that it was resting on Juno's shoulder, carding his hand through Peter's hair. The hair touch seemed to make him relax significantly, leaning back into Juno and letting out a small sigh. Juno ran his hand through Peter's hair for a little while, his other hand still lightly wrapped around Peter's waist, trying to keep from clenching any tighter. Juno looked over at Peter after a few minutes of this and saw that his eyes were closed, his breathing steady, like he was preparing to fall asleep but hadn't quite made it there yet. Juno tilted his head down to press his lips to the part of Peter's neck where it met his shoulder, pressing a line of soft kisses from his shoulder up towards his ear. He noticed the small smile that began to grace Peter's lips as he did this, one eye opening to look over at Juno. "I love you a lot, okay?"   
  
Peter's smile vanished immediately, looking away from Juno. "I'm sorry, I wanted to talk to you, I wanted to tell you what was happening, where I was, but-"   
  
"Shhhhhh." Juno pressed one finger to Peter's lips to stop his talking, and then moving to wipe away the tears that had started to fall yet again. "It's okay, you're here now. You're right here, in my arms, on my couch, in my apartment, in my city, on my planet, and you don't have to worry about whatever was happening out on the Outer Rim anymore. What happened happened, yes, but what matters is that you made it back to me safe."   
  
"I just -"   
  
"Hey, what'd I just say? It's okay. You don't have to talk about it right now, you can talk about it when you're ready. For now we can just sit here in silence if that's what you want. We don't need to talk about any of the bullshit you saw out there or anything. What matters is that you're here."   
  
Peter looked as though he was going to cry yet again, this time out of relief and happiness rather than anything else. He turned his head into the side of Juno's, hoping he could hide his tears in the curls on his head. When Juno realized what was happening he turned his head so that his forehead was pressed against Peter's, pressing light kisses onto Peter's cheeks where the tears were landing.    
  
Juno might have been angry, upset, and worried about the fact that Peter hadn't been able to contact him for half a month while he was in one of the most dangerous parts of the galaxy. He may have come back home beaten and bruised, not only physically but emotionally. But all of that went away, all that mattered now was that he was safe in Juno's arms as he closed his eyes once again, this time actually fading into unconsciousness.

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> I hope I included enough comfort for you.
> 
> If you enjoyed this lil fic, despite it not being entirely my usual style, feel free to kudos/comment/bookmark/do whatever you want, I love and appreciate all forms of positive reinforcement and write new things faster when people appreciate my works (also under deadlines but ya know).


End file.
